A Warning
by Faline1
Summary: Set before FOTR, Legolas is given a strange warning on his way to Rivendell and to the council


Title: A Warning  
  
Author: Faline  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Summary: Legolas has a visitor on his way through the Misty Mountains . . . could he be in danger even then?  
  
A Warning  
  
Legolas slowed his horse beside the moonlit stream. He had been riding hard for three days, and it was time for a rest. Lowering himself to the ground, he clicked to his horse as he began to un-tack the animal and give the beast it's rub down. His mission to the land of Rivendell weighed heavy on his mind as he finished with his horse, and he began to set up his own camp.  
  
In the moonlit forest of the Misty Mountains, the dangers and fears that Sauron were raising were quite literally a hundred miles away, yet they were getting terrifyingly close to the land of the Elves. Legolas was on his way to a very important meeting with the heads of the free races. He shook his head of the thoughts as a faint sound reached his ears.  
  
Cocking his head to one side, he listened. There, it came again. Legolas quickly placed the sounds as footsteps, not hiding their incredibly loud shuffling through the silver forest. The creature was either human or elf, he couldn't tell, but he could tell that it was coming up from behind at a fast pace.  
  
He stood slowly and turned, giving a seemingly uncaring glance around the scene in front of him. The moon gave an unnaturally silver tint to the whole landscape, but it was with the moonlight that he was able to pick out the creature garbed in white, walking to his left.  
  
Legolas picked up his bow and arrows and started to follow, being careful about his weight distribution and his breathing weight, making himself silent in the trees. He was able to discern the creature as a female, but he couldn't tell if she was human, elf, or wizard. This concerned Legolas. For a creature that was known for his heightened senses and forbearing, he didn't know what should be obvious.  
  
There was a crunch of footsteps behind him and he stopped all movement in his body, blending in perfectly with the environment around him. He was invisible, a talent it had taken all 2,931 years of his existence. The crunch came again, and he whirled, drawing his bow and arrow in a flash, ready to shoot the next thing that moved.  
  
There was nothing there. He could see his horse grazing in the opening by the stream a few thousand feet back, but there was nothing in that direction.  
  
"You are on a very dangerous mission Legolas Greenleaf." Her voice came directly in his ear. He turned back, his weapon still drawn. She was four feet behind him, standing in a patch of moonlight bursting through the branches and leafs overhead.  
  
Of an ethereal quality, her hair shimmered in the moonlight, and made her seem almost faceless and her features were lost in the mass of strait black hair. Her voice, which had seemingly floated on the breeze, still echoed in his ears. She was an enchanting creature, a characteristic of an elf. Neither moved for what seemed like an eternity to Legolas. He didn't know what to say.  
  
"Who are you?" His own voice was soft, yet firm with a commanding presence that one acquired as an elf prince. She laughed softly and Legolas could make out a pair of red lips floating in a sea of fair skin. The shadows fell away as she raised her chin and took in the glittering embrace of the moonlight. A smile touched her lips as Legolas practically drank in the beautiful sight of the creature in front of him. She was a picture perfect elf. Legolas had no idea how he could have mistaken her for anything else.  
  
She lowered her chin and boldly walked forward in a seemingly footless approach. As she drew near, the bow and arrow that Legolas held dropped to the ground on it's own accord. He was no longer in control of the smooth, powerful wood. This made a certain amount of sense, and Legolas forgot about his weapons as she came to stand less than a foot away. The closer the creature drew, the more Legolas could make out the detail on her dress, one of the main factors to determining where an elf is from. Unfortunately, there wasn't much. She wore leggings and the classical garments of a male elf warrior. This was surprising, but not half as surprising as the cape she wore around her small yet strong frame, for it was the cloak of a mage, or a female wizard.  
  
Legolas raised protest when a delicate hand rose to touch his cheek. "Don't touch me. Tell me who you are." Legolas raised his own hand and caught the slender wrist before the woman could make contact with his skin.  
  
His voice was less than soft now, a low tone he used when watching over the warriors of his father's realm and for rebuffing the childish behaviors of the younger members of his community. The elf before him was obviously not intimidated and brought her other hand up. This time, Legolas didn't stop her. He was taken aback when, instead of touching him, she waved her hand in front of his eyes in a sign of a wizard's greeting.  
  
"You are in great danger if you continue this quest Legolas Greenleaf." It un-nerved Legolas to have the other being use his full name. It wasn't even his true full name, and yet he was on an edge with her.  
  
Grasping her free wrist, Legolas held her with a light grasp. He said, "I know not what you speak of, and I will listen to in no more unless you reveal your name and tell me of your purposes in scaring a creature in the night." She smiled, a small half-smile, almost as if she didn't care that he had almost shot her through the chest.  
  
Raising her head defiantly, she said, "Do you not recognize my father's features in this face of mine. For, it is his legacy that I now must carry, instead of my mother's. Do you not see the wizard's cloak I wear, or the fact that it is the same cloak that you gifted my father upon my birth? I had expected more from you Legolas Greenleaf."  
  
Legolas' eyes flew to the fabric. It was of the rich fabric that the people of his land were well known for, and it carried the trademark of his father around the hood opening. Yet, he did not remember ever giving a wizard a cloak for the birth of a daughter. His gaze drifted across the ripe lips that were parted in almost feigned indignity, and came to her eyes. They were of the most amazing purple color, a color not common among the elf people. He stopped as the memory of the Gray Wizard arose in his mind and of the elf woman he had fallen in love with . . . the elf that had given up her immortality to live the life of a mortal.  
  
Legolas dropped her wrists and took three quick steps backwards, effectively separating them. This was Magdalene's daughter. His heart rose in a sob of grief as he remembered the last time he had seen the only true love of his life. He had left the humble abode that she now lived in with the wizard to go and die in the forest from a broken heart. Before his heart could completely shatter and kill him, Gandalf, the Gray Wizard, had found him and talked to Legolas. He had convinced Legolas that it would do no one any good to grieve for his lost love, and, in effect, die.  
  
Legolas had accepted his fate that day, and in thanks for saving his life, Legolas had given the Wizard a cloak that had been hand crafted by the royal seamstresses themselves that carried a certain amount of elf protection in the thread. The Wizard had said that the gift could have been a well-gifted present because one day, someone very close to him would need the cloak.  
  
Gandalf also told Legolas that one day the wizard would have to go on a great journey, and that he needed Legolas there to protect him. And when the missive had arrived at his father's palace from the Wizard, telling Legolas that he was needed, Legolas knew that his destiny was going to be filled.  
  
As he looked down upon the woman, he could see the defiance and lightness with which Gandalf dealt with life shining through the purple eyes. "So, you are Mithrandil's daughter." It was a statement; so much as it was a question. She nodded, her eyes locked with him. "Do you have a name?"  
  
"My name is Rhendowen. But, that doesn't matter here and now. My father knows not that I have come to you, but I feel as though I must warn you, for if I do not, there will be a great loss to my heart. For though I have never met you before, my father and mother both spoke highly of you, and the cloak which you have given my father has saved my own life once, and for that, I am ever thankful." She bowed her head, her words now said.  
  
"I don't understand my lady." Said Legolas beseechingly. If only he could understand the riddles this family produced with such ease. "Who will you lose?"  
  
She gracefully dropped to her knees and picked up the dropped weapons lying before her. Handing them silently to their rightful owner, a tear fell from her eye. "I have already lost my mother, and I am afraid that my father will soon fall. This body that has been created and that I now live in will last forever, and I will have no one to share it with, unless you can save them."  
  
Never raising her eyes, she wiped the tears from her cheeks and turned. "Be careful, my prince. You are the only one who can know." She walked away, her body and clothing shimmering away into the moonlight into nothingness.  
  
Legolas watched with a sharp eye. So, Magdalene was dead, and her daughter had come to beg care from an elf. He walked back to his camp slowly, and cooked himself some food. He would ride hard and make it to Rivendell before nightfall on the morrow, or he would not stop at all. His path was now clearer than ever and he knew that he would finally be needed.  
  
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Pointless fluff, I know, but I have fun. Um, as far as I know, this is pretty accurate when it comes to following character and story lines, though I do know that there is no Magdalene and no Rhendowen and Gandalf has no daughter or anything, but use you imagination folks. Oh and please Review! Thanks 


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